


That Counts

by sasannisa



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Babysitting, First Kiss, M/M, Middleschool!Taiga, Middleschool!Tatsuya, Taller!Tatsuya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2014-11-26
Packaged: 2018-02-27 02:29:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2675567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasannisa/pseuds/sasannisa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’m not going to give away my first kiss to a random old woman,” the redhead retorted lazily. “My first kiss should be with the one I love.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Counts

**Author's Note:**

> I always imagine Himuro would be a perfect father to his future children, hence babysitting!AU. And I'd die to see taller Himuro, so there you go. Oh, and my headcanon is that Kagami's father is dating someone that somehow reminds him of Alex (despite very different their personalities actually are), making Kagami feel all awkward and complaining because he doesn't really see the blonde as a mother figure, so...  
> This is my first time writing a himukaga fanfiction and I don't do really well in sneaking in curses and slang in dialogues, so please, do forgive the OOC-ness, if you feel any. I hope you enjoy this story!

**Title:** That Counts  
 **Author:** sasannisa  
 **Genre:** (b)Romance  
 **Pairing:** Himuro Tatsuya x Kagami Taiga  
 **Total word count:** 2,433

Taiga’s face lit up in glee as he found Tatsuya standing in front of the door through the peephole. He could feel his eyes burn and almost burst into tears when he opened the door and saw the real thing before him. Even better; warm, mouthwatering smell of pizza was coming from him, lifting up a little of his frustration that was his grumbling stomach.

“What’s wrong, Taiga? The pizzaman said he’s been waiting forever—“ Tatsuya’s words were cut off as Taiga engulfed him in a bear hug—a bit suffocating, but it was okay, because it felt nice and comforting and everything that he wanted after not seeing the younger boy for two months. _God_ , did he miss the redhead.

“Oh my gosh, Tatsuya, I could kiss you!” Taiga exclaimed. He was holding a toddler in one of his arms and getting drool all over his neck and shoulder but he did not give a single damn because Tatsuya—his _savior_ was here. With two boxes of pizza.

Tatsuya swore his heart skipped a beat upon hearing Taiga’s words. He was utterly glad the redhead was hugging him, despite how it made his heart throb uncontrollably it felt as if he was just done sprinting ten laps of basketball field. In this position, they could not see each other’s faces—Tatsuya could not imagine what excuse he would say if his little brother saw his pokerface faltered, leaving him with a stupid grin and pink blush blossoming on his cheeks. _How uncool_.

“Is this the urgent _thing_ you mentioned on the phone?” The dark-haired boy asked, poking on the toddler’s cheek after Taiga released him. He put away the two boxes of pizza on the coffee table and took the little girl from Taiga’s hands.

The redhead went to grab some money on the coffee table before sneaking out the door for a moment to give them to the pizzaman. “Yeah, Nora. I was trying to feed her but she kept swatting the spoon away. You wouldn’t want to go to the kitchen, man, mackerel puree everywhere and it does _not_ smell good.”

“You know, it’s a little rude of you, Taiga. Not showing up for two months, not answering my calls and texts. And when you finally did, you wailed and need me to help you with babysitting,” Tatsuya teased.

The younger boy sighed and threw himself on the couch, taking one slice of pizza and devouring it in one bite before grabbing another one. “For the record, that was Nora. I do _not_ fuckingcry over a baby. And I was grounded, okay. Dad even took my phone because he thought you and Alex were the ones influencing me into underage driving.”

The dark-haired boy nodded in response. Knowing Taiga was too busy stuffing his mouth with pizzas right now to pay attention, he took his chance to make funny faces to gain a giggle from Nora.

“You can drive?”

“If by driving you mean crashing into the sidewalk and knocking over someone’s mailbox then _yes_ , I can.”

Tatsuya coughed a laugh. “I know you don’t excel in class but I didn’t think you would—“

“Tatsuya, it was a dare contest. Either I amateur-drift with no lights on at 2 AM or make out with Seth’s mom,” Taiga whined, mouth full of cheese.

“So you chose to put your life on stake, not to mention putting your allowance on the line as well, rather than exchanging saliva with a woman?” Tatsuya asked, nodding in amusement. A part of him wanted to snap at his little brother for being a stupid douche, but another part of him blamed himself for not being there to protect him. But seriously, who would chose risking one’s life on death’s hand over a make out session?

“I’m not going to give away my first kiss to a random old woman,” the redhead retorted lazily. “My first kiss should be with the one I love.”

One thing that Tatsuya adore the most about Taiga was his unexpected being. Such cheesy line would usually made everyone laugh, knowing what sort of person Taiga was. The stern boy might seem to be too out-of-character to even thought about love matters, but he had his principles. And Taiga was a man on his words.

Tatsuya raised his eyebrows. “Alex kisses us all the time.”

“Alex doesn’t count. Just like how the drunk kiss with you didn’t happen.”

Taiga’s words went straight to Tatsuya’s lungs, striking him with pain and leaving a bitter tang in his throat. A pang of guilt arose in his chest as he recalled the moment; Tatsuya was only slightly tipsy at that time—as a middle-schooler, he had always had a high tolerance for alcohol. Chugging 6 bottles of beer only made his bladder to leak, not making him skinnydip in a kitchen sink and waking up naked inside a chimney. But for Taiga, 3 bottles of beer were enough to make him turn into a sappy hopeless-romantic, conveying sweet words, line after line and swoon Tatsuya off of his feet. The redhead stirred something inside him when he looked up, stared at his eyes for more than eternity, and whispered “I think I’m supposed to be with you”. The next thing he knew was the taste of _Budweiser_ on Taiga’s lips, and for the first time in his 14 years of life, Tatsuya felt complete. Of course, regret only came later, when he thought the kiss occurred because he was simply taking advantage of his little brother in his drunk state. But what else could he do after hearing those words—genuine or not—coming out of his crush?

“Right. Because you wouldn’t want your first kiss to be with a guy,” Tatsuya answered, successfully hiding the disappointment in his tone.

The younger boy sat up straight, set both of their eyes locked to each other’s and Tatsuya immediately put his pokerface demeanor back on.

“Because I would want to remember how my first kiss feels like.”

It took every bit of Tatsuya’s self-conscious to not deem the redhead’s reasoning as a beacon of hope. However, he could not help the fifty shades of crimson that came over on his face and he panicked even more when the younger boy did not look away.

“You’re amazing,” Taiga added and the older boy swore to god he would die in a heartbeat out of embarrassment—how random could the redhead be, praising him out of the blue like that?

The dark-haired boy was about to open his mouth to remark but his little brother was quicker. “You made the devil sleep.”

His gaze went straight to Nora in his arms and found the little girl was now snoring silently while holding onto his neck and he slapped himself internally. _Right_. _Of course_.  

“It took me one goddamn hour to feed her but only ten minutes for you to send her to sleep? You’re a natural.”

Tatsuya shrugged. “Well, usually, people tend to feel drowsy when they’re full, so.”

The redhead rose from his seat, walked up to his brother and stretched out his hands.

Confused, the older boy blinked questioningly.

“I can at least hold her since she’s asleep. You should get yourself a slice of pizza,” Taiga explained.

Passing the toddler to the younger boy carefully, Tatsuya went to the coffee table and grabbed the last slice of pizza before opening another box. “Remind me why are you babysitting again?”

“Remember Alex?”

The dark-haired boy furrowed his brows at the ridiculous question. “Alex? The loud, megane blonde? Used to be a WNBA player? Our coach? Yeah, I’m sure I know her,” he said sarcastically.

Taiga rolled his eyes. “No, the _other_ Alex. The one I’ve been complaining about since before I was grounded.”

Tatsuya’s mouth formed an O. “You complain about a lot of things, Taiga. But yes, you mentioned her a few times, I think. The one that Hiroshi-san’s currently seeing?”

“Yeah. My dad’s been trying really hard to impress her, right, so he got this, like, _brilliant_ idea to let _me_ babysit her daughter while they go on a date. I really don’t get it, if _he’s_ the one trying to impress her, shouldn’t _he_ be the one holding this baby right now?”

The older boy chuckled. “Well, it’s the least you can do for him after granting him with additional car insurance bill to pay.”

A heavy sigh was heard from the redhead. “ _Please_ , don’t remind me. I can still feel my legs suffering from those two painful hours of _seiza_ ,” Taiga said, walking over to his brother to sit down on the couch next to him, knocking Nora’s head against the arm rest in the process.

“Crap,” he cursed when the little girl woke up and started to bawl meteor sized tears. “Oh my god, I’m sorry, Nora! Please don’t cry!”

Tatsuya wanted to cackle at the Taiga’s attempt to stop the baby’s crying; he was blowing on Nora’s belly and playing peek-a-boo to make her laugh which only resulted in a louder cry. He decided to step in after several times of his little brother’s pathetic begging.

Holding the toddler in his arms, he stood up and patted her on her back while swinging her gently in a rhythmic motion to calm her. Nora’s crying began to peter out as Tatsuya hummed a song softly, very soothing even to Taiga’s ears. A minute later, the little girl was lulled back to slumber while sucking on her right thumb soundlessly.

“Seriously, how do you do that?” Taiga asked.

A smile was formed on Tatsuya’s lips, not telling the younger boy the secret to his expertise. Then an idea emerged in his mind. A risky, _precarious_ idea which might ruin their whole platonic relationship.

 _Platonic? Pfft_.

Tatsuya scoffed internally at his hypocrisy. Never in his life would he imagine having a high infatuation for Taiga; the person whom he was not supposed to hold any sexual desires for. Although they were, indeed, not actual siblings, bearing feelings for Taiga was unthinkable. Mainly due to the fact that they were both men and he knew his little brother was most certainly not one of _those_ people, unlike himself.

Which reminded him—the younger boy had no clue about his sexuality. Tatsuya had planned to come out of the closet someday, but he hadn’t got the courage to. He had always thought that if Taiga knew, the redhead would feel disgusted; especially when mostly everyone had pointed out that the level of their _bromance_ was far beyond normal. Hence, he had left it all for the world to decide when should his little brother find out about this matter.

But wouldn’t that be fortunate for him? If Taiga were to feel dismayed by the truth that his so-called _brother_ actually liked guys and distanced himself from the dark-haired boy, Tatsuya would be bound to lay off liking him and move on sooner. Having a crush on someone was complicated, Tatsuya figured. And perhaps it was time for him to give up.

Thus, Tatsuya call back the previously relinquished idea, bracing himself to face the possible consequences. “Is it too late to award me with that kiss?”

There was two seconds of pause and Tatsuya started to lament vocalizing his question, so it caught him off guard when Taiga said “okay” in the most casual way. “Really?” he asked.

The younger boy shrugged nonchalantly. “Why not? It’s not a big deal if I just kiss your cheek, right?”

 _Of course it’s not_ , Tatsuya thought. It made him wonder how naïve Taiga could be; it was someway cute—very much so—he must admit, but sometimes it made him want to tackle the redhead right then and there and destroy that innocence he had been putting up with.

  _I guess it’s time for plan B_.

Taiga stood up, rested his hand on Tatsuya’s shoulder and pushed himself on his tiptoes—it frustrated him to be reminded of their height differences. Sure, Tatsuya was his big brother; it was only normal if he was taller than him. But the dark-haired boy had almost reached Alex’s height whereas he himself was stuck eye level with the blonde’s shoulder and it was definitely not fun being called shorty. Now, two glasses of milk had been added to each of Taiga’s breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. Tatsuya had said everyone has their own rapid growth phase and that it was not his time yet but the redhead did not buy it. Instead, he drank two more glasses of milk for brunch and late night snack.

Feeling the younger boy’s hand pressing down on his shoulder, Tatsuya carefully bent down and gave his cheek for Taiga to kiss before turning his head and capturing the redhead’s puckered lips with his own.

The peck only lasted for a millisecond; Taiga pulled his head back in surprise and stared at Tatsuya with wide eyes and mouth agape. _What just happened_ was right at the tip of his tongue but he couldn’t find a way to utter it. It didn’t take long for his face to flush in sheer embarrassment—he was ready to storm out of the door but then realized that they were in _his_ apartment.

Tatsuya felt really sorry to put his little brother in shock after noticing the said boy couldn’t speak a single word. The outcome was exactly how he had predicted—or so he had thought—until he saw Taiga’s reddened face. He could only hope the hue of red spreading throughout his little brother’s cheeks indicated anger—and _not anything else_ otherwise he would be left hoping and he definitely did _not_ want to get through that again.

 _Okay then, one more push_.

“Does that count?” There. Tatsuya had done his job and now it was up to Taiga to curse him with every profane word he know or just punch him in the face—

Was that a nod he saw just now?

“…Yeah,” as if reading Tatsuya’s mind, Taiga finally answered softly. His gaze was now fixated at his feet, avoiding eye contact.

The dark-haired boy laughed at his failure. This was definitely _not_ what he had expected.

“Because you’d remember how that felt?” he asked, his tone tired and weary.

“That,” the redhead replied, “…and because of _the other reason_.”

Tatsuya’s eyes widened in surprise, before huffing out a sigh and succumbed to the couch behind him, admitting defeat.

Perhaps loving his little brother was not a bad thing after all.


End file.
